The plan to continue the program has drawn the ire of several community members who decry its increasing costs during a belt-tightening fiscal year. Spanish immersion served two 24-person kindergarten classes during the 2009-10 school year and is slated to include two additional first-grade classes next year.

Board chair Jeff Hallin noted that the Wednesday evening meeting was called partly to address board member Keith Steele's confusion over the issue during their marathon June 8 meeting.

The board voted 3-2 that night to reject a motion ending the program. But after most parents cleared the room, a distressed Steele wanted to put forward another motion delaying action instead. Steele said he had been under the impression that the board would have more time to reconsider the program's fate -- and by extension, the fate of teachers affected by the program's expansion.

District figures originally projected four second-year teachers would have their positions reduced because of the immersion program's continuation.

The board never voted on Steele's eleventh-hour motion, and Hallin said Wednesday's meeting should clear up any confusion.

"We wanted to present more information and get the status of the program clear," he said.

Yet the board could just as easily reiterate its position during the meeting, particularly with new information detailing the possibility of saving positions that would have been affected by the program's expansion. Woehl will present that plan during the meeting.